Yup, major difference! THe thing is, if you do the polishing right, you can damn near believe it's chrome. Look at ALMOST STOCK's GT40 intake. Half of it I would've sworn it was chromed if I didn't know any better.
Chrome powdercoat usually sucks. The trick with that is, the piece has to be perfectly flat to begin with otherwise it'll look like a real ****ty job. No offense to anyone who has any of it done, but you just can't compare it to real chrome like they would have you believe. Anyway, I had a bunch of spare AC brackets laying around, so I had them chrome powdercoated so I could sell them and get rid of 'em. And make a few bucks of course
Here's a pic at how they ended up:
Not bad for coating! Just realize before having anything done that it should be sanded as if you *are* polishing it. Or have the shop do it. Otherwise, like a polish or chrome job, it just won't refract the light right or end up very reflective (possibly miss out on a lot of the shine, too).
edit: Thanks guys
Coming from the guys who built my fave cars here on SN, it means a lot. I had nearly everything polished but I had to step it up to beat some people at some shows. Plus I was never fully happy with the intake. As the more-or-less centerpiece of the engine I felt it had to be absolutely flawless and no matter what I did I wasn't going to get it as good as chrome like the people I am referencing above. So, I had to one-up them...and I did so with a better chromer and better pre-polished base
After that I ended up with a fully chrome bracketed S-trim kit, so I replaced all my other stuff with that, basically for free after selling the old stuff. can't blame me for that eh?
Chrome powder coating looks ok, but doesn't look as good as a polished piece.
